


Unprecedented Maneuvers

by Lumelle



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/F, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2015-07-08
Packaged: 2018-03-02 15:38:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2817425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lumelle/pseuds/Lumelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the fall of SHIELD, Steve didn't expect to be part of a new team any time soon. However, when Natasha brings them to New York and Tony has an offer to make, he finds himself accepting.</p><p>Now to figure out how much of his acceptance is due to Avengers and how much to Tony himself. Also, how to do this whole saving the world thing, that's important too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Rushing In

**Author's Note:**

> So my sister asked for a fic with these particular pairings for her birthday. I'm doing my best to deliver.

Steve knew better than to ask Natasha about her sources.

Perhaps she did not actually know everything, but she was certainly good at pretending she did, and sometimes it was not entirely clear just how she could have come by such knowledge. However, Steve knew by now that if it was important that he knew her sources, she would tell him, and if it was not, no amount of asking would get her to reveal them anyway. He wasn't about to accuse her of being mysterious on purpose, but he trusted she at least didn't mind cultivating such a reputation.

Even so, he came awfully close to questioning her at length whan she showed up out of nowhere, complete with a new and functioning set of wings for Sam, and announced they would have to cut their search for Bucky short because there was trouble brewing in New York.

Sam had no such compunctions, trying to drill her for more details the whole way back to the city. She was somewhat tightlipped, but did tell them that said trouble was not an immediate threat, but nevertheless something that required their presence at the moment. Bucky wasn't going anywhere, she claimed, which was absolute bullshit but Steve didn't call her on it, because whatever he might have liked to think, he was starting to suspect they wouldn't find Bucky before he was ready to be found. And when he was, he would more likely seek them out than the other way around. That was an important part of the skillset of the Winter Soldier, after all.

He refused to think of Bucky as such, though.

So something was going on, except it wasn't a threat, but they had to be there anyway. It wasn't as much information as he would have liked, but it was good enough for now. Maybe the distraction would be good for him, he mused. Then they'd get back on trail with fresh eyes and maybe have more luck this time. And if whatever it was Natasha was hiding from them had something to do with HYDRA, Bucky might well show up just for that.

Of course, he hadn't counted on crossing the Brooklyn Bridge only to arrive in the middle of a literal avalanche of bouncing rubber balls the size of watermelons. Very large watermelons.

Natasha looked equally surprised at least, as much as she ever showed any emotion whatsoever. She was driving at the moment, only barely managing to dodge an incoming wave, bringing the car to a stop. "Better get out of here," she said, hand reaching into her pocket. "I'd rather not get crushed to death in a car."

Steve and Sam, agreeing with her point, got out of the car as well and followed her inside the closest building. People were seeking shelter, they noticed, waiting for someone to fix the mess. The balls battered against the walls, but so far none of them seemed to have figured out the art of breaking through a door.

So far.

"Damn it. If this is the trouble you were talking about, I'd have appreciated a little warning." Sam was strapping his wing pack on, ignoring the curious gazes of an elderly lady who had escaped the rubber avalanche as well.

"This isn't exactly what I had in mind, no." Natasha dug out her phone. Steve had already done the same, looking for news coverage. "Though I suppose this will soon lead to the revelation of my little secret."

"Is your secret going to get us all killed?" Sam's tone was almost conversational. He didn't believe she would literally be the death of them, no, but he seemed to be acknowledging the definite possibility.

"More likely? It'll be the only thing that saves us from this mess." There was a small ping, and Natasha looked back at her phone. "Falcon. Can you make it to Stark Tower?"

"Depends on whether I can find it. This isn't exactly my usual neck of the woods."

"Middle of Manhattan, big and arrogant. Has his name on the side, you can't miss it."

"Hm. I'll make it there one way or another, though making the final climb might be tricky." He nodded. "You need me to do something?"

"Yes. Rendezvous with Hawkeye there, then get him to position. We'll have reinforcements by then, but he's never going to let me hear the end of it if he misses the fun."

"Right. And how am I going to recognize the guy?"

"Blond hair, sunglasses, probably wearing black. Oh, and he'll be carrying a bow and a quiver, you can't miss him."

Sam nodded again and headed further into the building, doubtlessly planning to get a good start from the roof. Steve, meanwhile, turned towards Natasha. "Reinforcements?"

"They'll be here soon enough." She drew a couple of guns from somewhere he couldn't fathom. "Let's go and make sure nobody gets trampled until then."

There really wasn't much they could do about the balls, so they concentrated their efforts on getting civilians out of the way, as much as they could. Steve was busy leading a lady with her two children to safety, his shield braced against the constant barrage, when something flew overhead, much too fast to be Sam. Then there was a blast of blinding light, and Steve closed his eyes by reflex.

When he opened them again, he found himself looking at something that gleamed in tones of red and gold, metal shining in the sunshine. Beneath the apparition the remains of a few rubber balls sizzled on the pavement.

"Well, that's a relief. I was kind of worried that wouldn't help." Iron Man hovered in the air for a moment, then suddenly turned towards him. "All right, Cap?"

"Ah, yes." He nudged the frozen lady, who thankfully recovered quickly and ushered her children into the nearest store now that the rubber rain had stopped for a moment. "I thought you quit."

"So did I. Imagine my surprise when I realized I had built another suit. Honestly, it shocked me more than anyone, no matter what Pepper says. I must have been sleep-building again, that's the only explanation, no other way. Came pretty handy when we heard about the sudden invasion of far too many balls to handle, though."

"I, ah. Good to see you here?" He didn't expect it to come out as quite as much of a question. "We have a plan?"

"Not as such, containment's the key right now. Hulk's over there, it seems splatting them with enough force drops them. I'm supposed to keep burning them; Widow's seeking out the origin point so we can figure out what the hell's going on. You're on crowd control, which, great, you're doing pretty great there."

"Wait, Widow? You've been in contact with Natasha?"

"Well, obviously. Why'd you think she came looking for you when Pepper found out about the suit? Don't get in her way if you see her, by the way. These damn things interrupted one of her very rare days off and I don't think she'll care what kind of balls she's burning if you get in her way."

Steve was embarrassed enough by the crude comment that he actually hadn't realized the full implications of Tony's words until Iron Man had flown off. He knew who Pepper Potts was, had found out when he had searched for more information about Tony. She was the CEO of SI, possibly Tony's girlfriend, definitely one of his very few friends. The intimidating Pepper Potts with her high heels and terrifying efficiency.

How exactly was she supposed to be burning anything?

He really should have stopped asking questions, Steve decided a few blocks further, where he ran into a very beautiful and very angry redhead currently in the process of melting rubber balls left and right. Apparently mere contact with her hand was enough to cause the balls to disintegrate.

He'd have to ask about that later. For now, he had better things to worry about.

Things such as the Hulk, indeed roaming the streets, thankfully focusing more on the rubber balls than anything else. He seemed to be having fun, if that could be believed, chasing the balls and squishing them between his huge hands like a child might run after soap bubbles. It certainly seemed to take as little effort. Then there was Hawkeye, too, or at least Steve figured he was the cause of sudden explosions at random spots along one streets. Explosive arrows, he decided, that made sense. At least he hoped it did.

Eventually, though, Natasha found and disabled the device that had sent the balls moving, and the ones that hadn't been destroyed yet eventually came to a stop with no more energy running into them. The streets were a mess, and anything not shielded by walls had suffered some damage if not been crushed entirely, but other than that the damage seemed to be minimal. Steve found everyone gathering close as they watched the police carting off the would-be supervillain, and really, someone had thought this was a viable plan for world domination? Really?

"So, that was fun." Falcon flew down, carrying Hawkeye, who dropped down to the ground. "Let's do it again never."

"Oh, I don't know. It was much better than sitting around Stark's place all day." Hawkeye snorted.

"Please, Robin Hood." Tony's mask flipped open, but he was grinning. "You seem quite content to sit on your ass and abuse my home theater while flirting with my good doctor."

"Yeah, well, I don't exactly have a lot to do. In case you missed it, my primary employer collapsed in on itself, and I'm not too proud to take advantage of your hospitality. Speaking of which, I vote we get something to eat sometime soon."

"That can be arranged." Tony glanced around. "Everyone, my place? My place. We'll order take-out or something. No sense in trying to find someplace else, everyone's indoors so there's no way we'll find an empty restaurant this time, and besides I miss my home. I'd really like to remind myself that this time saving Manhattan didn't require the sacrifice of several very big and expensive windows."

"At least this time you didn't fall off a building, so I'd say that's a win." Pepper Potts was walking closer as well, fixing her hair in a neat bun. Aside from the disheveled hair, she didn't show any signs of having just been in a battle. There definitely wasn't any sign of heat boiling right under her skin, not like when Steve had seen her in action.

He definitely needed to find out what was going on.

"I'd say we take that offer," Natasha said, reaching an arm around Pepper's waist as she got close enough, and oh, that was... well. That was. "Even though I suspect that means we'll soon be subjected to Stark's rant about his latest harebrained scheme."

"You know it, beautiful." Tony threw her a grin, apparently unaffected by the sight of Natasha getting close to Pepper, even as the latter leaned in for a quick peck. "So, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm flying. Anyone want a lift?"

Tony's harebrained scheme, it turned out, was the Avengers Initiative. A form of it, in any case. Not an enforcement team for a government organization or the World Security Council, just a group of people who were willing and able to fight the kind of threats that seemed to be popping up at an alarming frequency. People such as those gathered between the pile of pizza he had ordered, and my, wasn't that a coincidence, one could almost call it fate.

It also turned out Tony was behind Sam's new wings. Steve failed to be surprised.

He should have said no, should have refused and returned to his search for Bucky. It wasn't what he wanted, and besides, it wasn't like they needed him. It would be good for Sam, he reasoned, the man wasn't going to go back to his old peaceful life now that he had been thrust back into action, but they'd do just fine without Steve. He was done being a symbol for people he didn't know he could trust, done fighting for a cause he couldn't call his own. He had trusted SHIELD, and SHIELD had turned on him, and even if there was nobody above them calling the shots now he was reluctant to throw in his lot with people whose motivations he could not know for absolute certain.

There was Tony Stark, though, eyes bright and wild with intelligence instead of cold and contemptuous, speaking a mile a minute about his plans and ideas, and the only time the joy in his eyes dimmed even for a moment was when he watched Pepper's fingers entangle with Natasha's, but only for a moment, and then the light returned as though it had never been away. He was mad and bright and brilliant, and somewhere between seemingly countless slices of pizza Steve found himself agreeing.

Well, damn.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony is, Steve concludes, going to drive him mad. Except not in the way he might have expected.
> 
> Steve wants Tony, but getting the message through might take some doing.

It took Steve less than a week of living in the Tower to realize that Tony was going to drive him mad in short order.

This was not actually much of a surprise, considering their past record. What was surprising, however, was the realization that this was most likely not going to be the angry sort of mad, but rather the kind that had Steve doubting his own thoughts.

Also possibly the kind that made him angry. Tony was just that versatile.

For once, Tony wasn't even doing it on purpose. At least, Steve was fairly sure he wasn't. They didn't have much direct interaction, and when they did Tony was more or less civil, with Steve responding in kind. There were still some snide words here and there, or the occasional barbed comment, but somehow having fought terrible threats side by side and having saved the day together took off the worst edge from those. Or perhaps it was just the lack of Loki's scepter messing with their minds, Steve wasn't entirely sure. Either way, even those off-hand comments now reminded him of the teasing between the Commandos rather than actual attempts to antagonize him.

Somehow, though, everything Tony did seemed to draw Steve's attention. When he was explaining about one invention or another, eyes gleaming with genius and caffeine, Steve found himself almost transfixed in the flood of words and sharp gestures that never quite seemed to stop. When Tony wasn't talking, Steve was captured by the intense focus in his eyes, the way he seemed to close out everything in the world besides the one detail he was concentrating on. Steve didn't often see him like that, as Tony often preferred to stay out of the shared areas of the Tower when he was too deeply focused on something, but sometimes he could see him wandering about with a tablet in his hands and a frown on his face, and Steve just couldn't look away.

It was one of those moments, early in the morning, as Steve had just finished his morning work-out routine and headed for breakfast after a shower. He wasn't expecting any actual company in the kitchen, given the early hour, yet to his surprise Tony was already there. Judging by the shirt he was wearing, the same faded band t-shirt as the day before, he hadn't actually made it to bed yet, which Steve figured explained a lot.

Tony didn't look up as Steve walked in, one hand tapping at the surface of his tablet computer, the other absentmindedly picking at some leftover Chinese from the night before. It had become rather obvious from the start that Tony Stark's diet consisted mostly of snacks, take-out and the occasional restaurant dinner, when he wasn't feeding himself on the most suspicious liquids Steve had seen since he'd been a lab rat that Tony insisted on calling smoothies or something equally innocuous. Somehow he managed to maneuver the food from the container all the way into his mouth with a pair of chopsticks without even looking, which Steve concluded had to be the result of either plenty of practice or some sort of supernatural powers.

As Steve watched, stuck in the doorway, Tony hummed to himself as he tapped his lips with the other end of his chopsticks, then made a couple of sharp taps on his tablet with a final triumphant, "A-ha!" The smirk that tugged at his lips was smug, annoying, and so absolutely brilliant that Steve found he couldn't breathe for a moment, except instead of the agony and terror of asthma this left him light-headed in the best of ways as he kept watching Tony, glued to the spot. After a moment he managed to move again, heading for the fridge for something to eat, while Tony continued to ignore him in favor of leftover rice and glowing lines on the tablet surface.

Perhaps it wasn't the worst possible time or place to realize that he was in love, Steve mused, but there certainly could have been better ones.

It wasn't as much of a shock as it could have been, really. It wasn't that he was utterly opposed to the idea of being attracted to another man. It hadn't been discussed in his time, not in polite society anyway, but he had been in the army long enough to see and hear things polite society would never have considered. Besides, well, there had been a time when Bucky's smiles had made his stomach do strange things, or even a moment or two when his eyes had lingered on the body of a particularly fine male specimen a bit longer than was strictly necessary — a failing he was doing his best to cover up in a team with gods and trained soldiers everywhere. However, beyond a very basic acknowledgment that the subject was not entirely alien to him, he had never truly given it much thought.

Except now he had no choice, because the occasional stray thought was turning into a constant low burn at the back of his mind, making him constantly aware of Tony on a truly distracting level. He felt like a young boy again, trying to push away the first awakening thoughts of a girl down the street being nice to look at, except every time he was near Tony the thoughts awoke again, stronger than before. Only this time he wasn't small and sickly Steve Rogers, perfectly aware that he stood no chance with a pretty girl no matter how sweet and polite he might have been, and if anything, that just made it worse.

Steve knew he was attractive to many, if not most of the part of the population that was drawn to men. He was well built and groomed, had a sense of humor and a nice smile, was strong and brave and loyal to a fault. These were all qualities people looked for in a partner, as he had been informed by sources as varying as Bucky and Natasha and a very exasperated SHIELD agent trying to convince him that no, people weren't staring at him because he had something stuck on his face, but even so Steve found himself woefully lacking when it came to facing Tony. After all, he knew Tony's type, knew the kind of person Tony had ever spent more time wooing than a single night of fun: sharp, efficient, and very clearly female. For all that Pepper was with Natasha now, for all that they both assured everyone the breakup had been amicable and mutual and really for the best for both of them, he knew some part of Tony still longed for Pepper. And for all his good qualities, Steve could not be Pepper.

Which wasn't to say that he couldn't try, of course.

He tried being subtle at first, because subtlety was the least likely to get him burned. He wandered about shirtless or in a thin undershirt sometimes, though only when it could be explained by, say, being in the ridiculously well-equipped gym Tony had set up in the Tower. There had been a time when this would have made him terribly embarrassed, but after touring with the USO girls and fighting a war there was little left of his modesty. This did net him a glance or two when Tony happened to be there at the same time, sometimes even a slightly sarcastic whistle or a comment, but nothing he could see as truly genuine. His attempts at engaging Tony in conversation were likewise fated for failure. Either they ended up bickering about one thing or another, seriously or not, or Tony went off on a half-rambling rant that Steve did find fascinating but not particularly useful in having them grow closer in any sense. It didn't help that he was utterly hopeless at flirting, and not very good at interpreting it, either. Once or twice he thought Tony might have done something resembling flirting in his direction, but then he was also quite sure Tony flirted with most people or things he found in the least bit interesting. Sure, it was better than being ignored, but just because Tony gave him the same treatment he did a fresh pot of coffee didn't mean he had any semblance of hope of a romantic interest.

Clearly, the only possible approach was to be direct. Therefore, he was going to ask Tony for dinner.

Steve found Tony in his workshop, blasting music at deafening levels and his hair a complete mess from all the times he had run his hand through it in thought. Trying to approach him for anything would have been quite useless, if not for the help of JARVIS, who helpfully turned down the volume enough for actual conversation to happen.

"You have a visitor, Sir."

"Oh?" Tony blinked, head coming up from whatever he had been working on as he registered Steve's arrival, probably more due to the lack of ear-splitting music than JARVIS's helpful commentary. "Cap! Steve, Steven, Stevelicious. What brings you to my evil lair? There isn't an alien attack going on or anything, is there? Because if there is I should damn well be informed, really JARVIS, this is unacceptable. If there are any earth-threatening threats that's priority one."

"No threats of any kind, I promise." Steve took a good look at Tony. He was the kind of jittery that hinted that he had been in the workshop probably longer than was necessary, forgoing sleep and possibly food in favor of working on his latest bright idea. Even so, with smudges on his face and hands and his messy hair and wearing a messy t-shirt with a ripped hole in the front that now only displayed scarred flesh rather than the glow of an arc reactor, he almost literally took Steve's breath away. God, he had it bad. "I, ah. Actually, I wondered if you'd eaten yet?" Not the best of starts, but at least it was a start. Surely, he could work off that.

Tony gave him a sharp look, eyes narrowing. "Pepper put you up to this, didn't she?"

Steve blinked. "What? No, that's not —"

"Oh, please, it's exactly what she'd do. She's always making sure I do all the boring stuff, you know, sleeping, eating, and so on. Also lets me hear whatfor if I actually do skip those things, because apparently she's taken responsibility for my bodily functions or something, which, really, is far below her paygrade. I mean, she's got a company to run, which is not an easy job, speaking as the one who used to do that before her, and she still manages to check in on me? That's devotion. Or obsession. Pretty sure it's obsession since she's still doing it after we broke up, as evident in your presence here now that she's not in town to breathe down my neck herself."

"Pepper only does that because she cares about you." This, Steve felt confident about, even though he could not claim to know Pepper all that well. "And anyway, I'm not here because of her."

"Hey, no shame in admitting it, she's terrifying. Gorgeous, wonderful, and absolutely terrifying. No wonder she went for Natasha, a super spy assassin is probably the least she needs to feel somewhat equal, and that's without the Extremis. I feel extremely lucky that she likes me enough not to murder me in my sleep, because let me tell you, if she did kill me I'd have it coming. That's in my will, by the way. If at any point there's any suspicion that Pepper might have murdered me, I'm on record stating I probably had it coming. After everything I've put her through, professionally and personally, the least I can do for her is die by her hand and not in some horrific superhero accident."

"Pepper wouldn't kill you."

"No, she wouldn't, even she has her flaws. Maybe one day she'll come to her senses about that, but I'm not holding my breath. For the time being she seems far too invested in keeping me alive, even though that's clearly contrary to her best interests, poor woman. Stockholm syndrome is what it is, it's the only explanation. And now she's dragging you down with her, all wrapped up in the misery that is me. Hey, JARVIS?"

"Yes, Sir?" The calm voice of Tony's AI responded before Steve could even try to explain once again that he was not, in fact, here as a favor for Pepper but rather had more personal motivations.

"Order a couple of pizzas, will you? Now that I think about it, it's probably been a while since I ate properly. Actually, make that four, all different toppings, we'll sort them out later. I've read the notes on the supersoldier metabolism, better not skimp there. You're eating here, right?" All of a sudden Tony's attention was on Steve again, burning him with its intensity. "You know, just to make sure I'm actually putting stuff into my mouth and don't just forget the pizza on the counter until it walks off on its own?"

"Uh. I guess?" This was definitely not what he had been thinking of, but he supposed it was the best he could hope for right now. Clearly Tony was not in the mood for listening, for all that he was making quite a lot of conversation.

"Great! We can pretend we're both civil grownups and all that jazz. Not that I'm too hopeful about our success but hey, we do what we can, right?" Tony snapped his fingers as though he had just got some great idea. "Sadly for you this means you get to listen to me. Usually I'd be talking to JARVIS or the bots, but since you're here, seems a waste of a warm body not to talk to you instead. Or at you, whatever, I don't actually demand contributions, but I've had too little sleep and too much caffeine and this damn project is taking over my head so I'm kind of hoping talking about it will keep my head on straight for long enough that I can actually fall asleep at some point, you know, once I'm done tweaking and building and readjusting."

"I can listen." That much he could at least do, sit there and listen to Tony, bask in the glow of mad genius that seemed to light him up from within. Whether it was of any help, he didn't know, but he was willing to take any excuse to have a closer look at the man who was either insane or genius or a bit of both, Steve wasn't sure.

It wasn't exactly what he had planned, eating pizza while he leaned against a worktable in Tony's lab while Tony himself drew diagrams in the air with a half-eaten slice, but it was kind of wonderful anyway.

Of course, he still wasn't going to stop trying.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve finds the obvious solution to any problem involving Tony: Clearly, he needs to get help from Pepper.
> 
> Except of course things can't go as simply as just having a nice, calm talk with Tony.

The solution, as it turned out, was Pepper.

Tony would snort when he finally heard this, pointing out that this was a given, as Pepper was the solution to anything even remotely important. While Steve would in time learn that this was often true, at the time he was not aware of this obvious answer to his problem. After all, it just didn't seem right at all to go asking Tony's former girlfriend about how he should get Tony for himself. Sure, she had experience with dating him, but even so, Steve kept putting off the inevitable.

Despite all his reluctance, though, Steve found his resolve crumbling in the face of hopeless attempts without any help. He had been trying to approach Tony in various ways for a while now, each more unsuccessful than the last. Tony seemed to make a sport of misinterpreting everything he said. If Steve said something about a movie, this turned into an evening of educating Steve on all the pop culture he had missed out on, and more than one reference to a dinner lead to sharing some take-out in Tony's workshop, which, while pleasant as such, was not exactly the height of romance. All in all, he was spending more time with Tony than he might have ever thought possible — pleasant time, too, with actual conversation and light teasing instead of insults and jabs directly at their weakest spots — yet it was looking more and more like he had absolutely no chance whatsoever of attracting Tony's interest as anything but a friend.

Clearly, for all that he did not want to ask Pepper for help in catching Tony's interest, there was one thing he did have to ask her lest he waste any more of his time on a hopeless cause.

"Excuse me?" Pepper blinked at him, looking somewhat bewildered. She was sitting in the spacious living room of the Tower, a tablet computer in her lap which might have usually discouraged Steve from interrupting her, but judging by the shoes she had toed off her feet and her relaxed posture he figured it was safe to approach. At least until she looked at him as though he had just grown another head.

"You heard me." Steve was doing his best not to squirm, really he was, but it was hard when she was staring at him like some strange curiosity. He wasn't very skilled at speaking with women at the best of times, not unless the situation was critical enough that he could forget all his preconceived notions about being polite to dames and never saying a wrong word to them, but it was even harder when she was giving him such a look.

"Oh, I heard the words clear enough, I'm just having trouble interpreting them." Pepper set her tablet aside, as though this demanded her full, undivided attention. Because Steve wasn't feeling on the spot enough as it was. "You want to know if Tony is interested in men?"

"That's what I asked, yes." No, he was not going to shift like a guilty schoolboy. He wasn't doing anything wrong here. The SHIELD information package had been especially clear on that point.

"Do you mean in general, or is there a specific reason you're asking?" Her lips were turning into a small smile, and somehow, that was even worse than having her stare at him.

"I, ah. Maybe?" Oh God, he was blushing now, wasn't he.

"Well, let's put it this way." Pepper was definitely smiling now. Steve could only hope she could keep her laughter on the inside; he wasn't sure he could cope if she actually laughed in his face. Though then, if anyone was skilled at keeping her amusement hidden, it would be the woman who dealt with Tony on a regular basis. "Tony is, far as I know, bisexual with a strong preference for women. He has had male partners before, though it's rather rare. His only longer relationship was with me."

"Right." It wasn't a no, not quite, but it was close enough that he was starting to feel the crushing weight of defeat.

"However." Pepper crossed her arms over her chest, looking very much like the ever efficient CEO even as she crossed her ankles and leaned back to the couch. "If there is anyone who might inspire him to change his track record in this matter, I have it on good confidence it would be someone tall, strong, blond, and a tendency for heroism." She tapped her cheek with a fingertip as though deep in thought. "Come to think of it, it might also help if this person had been in a poster on his wall through most of his teens."

Right. Definitely blushing. "Ah. Do you mean…"

"I have it on good confidence that you were the reason Tony realized he also likes men in the first place." Pepper patted the couch next to her. "Come on, sit down. I feel we should talk about the mystery of how exactly you have managed to miss the evidence of Tony's interest for so long, considering the way he keeps flirting with you."

To Pepper's credit, she didn't laugh at him as he recounted his adventures in courting Tony. Not openly, in any case. Her expression rather suggested she was dying with laughter on the inside, not that Steve could blame her. On the outside, however, she simply smiled and nodded, waiting until he was done with his story before she spoke again.

"I think I know what the problem is." Steve resisted the urge to sigh in relief. "And, in a way, it mirrors your own."

"Oh?" Steve frowned. He'd rather thought this was his problem to begin with.

"Tony doesn't know if you are interested in him." She lifted a hand, silencing him before he could protest. "That is, he doesn't know if you are interested you in a romantic manner. I know Tony can often look like he's hopeless in social matters, but he's much smarter in that regard than he lets on. The only way he could be misinterpreting your approaches over and over again is if he is doing so on purpose."

"Wouldn't that just mean that he's not interested in me after all?" However much it hurt to think that he might have ruined his chances before he even realized he wanted it.

"Oh, no. If that was the case, he would tell you. Tony doesn't shy away from turning people down, I promise. All this sounds like he's convinced you aren't actually interested in men, so he's going out of his way to interpret everything you say as a friendly approach."

"What can I do, then, if he's going to misinterpret me anyway?"

"You'll just have to be more direct. Don't give him a chance to turn it into something else. Don't just ask him about dinner or movies or whatever; tell him you are interested in him as more than a friend and ask him for a date. Use those words, so there's no room for error."

"And if he doesn't want that?" Because that was still a possibility. Just because Tony didn't realize Steve was interested in him like that didn't mean his interest was returned.

"Steve Rogers, you are not a stupid man. Please don't act like one." Pepper tapped his nose with a fingertip like he were an unruly puppy. "Tony won't tell you no, not if you're direct with him. Just be clear on what you want — a date, a night, a relationship. If you're both on the same page from the start there's the least chance for a broken heart." Steve didn't ask if she knew that from personal experience, too.

"Right." He drew a deep breath. "I'll try to do that."

"Do it today. The more you put it off, the more you'll manage to convince yourself not to."

"Today. Got it." No backing down, now. He wasn't a shy little boy anymore. Besides, he had a feeling that if he tried, Pepper would set him straight again.

Of course, given his usual luck in the matters of heart, it really shouldn't have been much of a surprise that they were called out to deal with an attack of what seemed like robotic ducks the size of ponies taking over Broadway. It would have almost seemed humorous if not for the very real threat posed by the robots. Any remaining thought that this might be a joking matter was quickly discarded when one of them somehow made its way up to the roof where Hawkeye was perched, making a nasty gash in his thigh before he could get rid of it. Clearly these things were dangerous as well as amusing, as Steve reminded the rest of his team while Falcon quickly patched Clint up so he wouldn't bleed out before they got a medical team on site.

He wasn't entirely sure whether "ironic" covered the fact that he was the next casualty when one of the ducks decided to suddenly explode in a cloud of metal shrapnel and indignant squawks, but he supposed he could be forgiven his ignorance when all he wanted to do was cry out in pain.

It was Iron Man who came to his rescue, flying him off to some waiting paramedics — the extensive burns and lacerations were not something to be field-patched until they cleared up the area. To add insult to injury, Tony kept berating him the whole time they were in the air, which Steve thought was a rather unfair thing to do when he was already in terrible pain. Maybe if he closed his eyes it'd help the ache, without quite so much light shining into his eyes.

"Oh, fuck you, Steve, don't you dare go to sleep," Tony growled, the voice loud and clear in his ear though they were in reality separated by Tony's mask. "You're not allowed to do that sort of thing, do you hear me?"

"Uh." Right, clearly his new plan was to dazzle Tony with his verbal dexterity. "My head hurts…"

"After that blast, I'd be damn surprised if some part of you didn't hurt." Steve couldn't be sure, but he could have sworn he got drawn just a bit closer to the armored chest. "Come on, Rogers, you're better than this. No going to sleep yet, not until I've found you some help."

"I can't…" He was trying, really he was, but everything hurt and he was feeling dizzy and it would have been so much easier to just close his eyes and go to sleep.

"Damn it, Steve, you're not allowed to do this!" There was an edge of panic to his voice, now, one clear enough for even Steve to pick up on it. "Come on, what's it going to take? Name your price, I'll give you anything that's in my power, just don't make me explain to Pepper that I let you die like this…"

"Anything?" Of course Tony didn't mean that. He never left himself so open for anyone to exploit, Steve knew that much.

"Anything." There was no hesitation there, no doubt. Just a voice as firm as the metal arms cradling him. "Just keep your eyes open a little bit longer."

"Go on a date with me." The words seemed to come awfully easy for him. He was just going to blame the blood loss. "A proper one."

"What?" Tony sounded startled even over the artificial connection, and Steve could practically hear everyone else on the line straining to be perfectly quiet and listen. He might have said something about that if he hadn't been too busy trying to keep his eyes open despite the dizziness and pain.

"You heard me." At least he was fairly sure Tony had. He had actually said that, right? Not just imagined it?

"I must have heard wrong." What, and Tony was the one to decide that, was he?

"I want you to go on a date with me." There, he'd said it, and clearly enough to impress himself, considering how much pain he was in at the moment. "Also other things that aren't suitable for the ears of little Hawkeyes."

"Hey!" Clint's indignant voice came through as evidence of their indeed listening on. Tony, however, ignored it as much as Steve himself did.

"You can ask me again once you've been patched up." There was an undercurrent of worry to Tony's voice, which was just ridiculous, Tony was never worried. "For now, just keep your eyes open."

Steve did, all the way until Tony had deposited him with the field medical team and flown off to save the day again. At that point, he figured he was allowed to close them at last, being dizzy and in pain and surrounded by people qualified enough to make sure he lived to tell the tale. Just for a little while, though. His team needed him to get up and back in the fight.

Just for a little while.

When he opened his eyes next, he was in a hospital room. It seemed every inch of him was wrapped in bandages, and though the pain wasn't quite as overwhelming as it had been before, the deep ache that settled in its stead was not actually much better. Not that he cared, really. All he was actually interested in was the figure sitting in a chair beside his bed, flicking at a tablet in a distracted manner.

"Tony?"

Tony's head snapped up in an instant, a look of relief on his face before it was replaced by a scowl. "You are an idiot, do you know that?"

"Just… trying to fit in." Steve shifted a bit and immediately regretted it. "How did it go?"

"The battle? We won. A lot of shrapnel all around, mind. Everyone else is in one piece, even Merida got away with some stitches in the end." Tony crossed his arms over his chest. "And then there's you, our great and illustrious leader."

"Then there's me." Steve paused, trying to sort through his memories of the pain-haze after the explosion. "So. Will you?"

Tony blinked. "Will I what?"

"Go on a date with me."

The surprise faded away into something almost like… disappointment? "I'm not talking about this while you're high on painkillers."

"High metabolism means high resistance." Which was both a blessing and a curse. "Besides, I've wanted this for a while."

Tony narrowed his eyes. "Okay. Who put you up to this?"

This time it was Steve who blinked. "What?"

"Clearly someone convinced you to do this. Who was it? Pepper? Rhodey?"

"Nobody's convinced me do anything. Well, except Pepper telling me to be direct since apparently you don't respond to subtlety." Steve paused. "I actually asked her if you even like men, you know."

"And why would you do that?"

"Because I was starting to wonder if it was men in general or just me you weren't interested in."

For a moment Tony just stared at him. Then, he threw his head back and — laughed?

"What?" Surely, his being interested in someone wasn't quite that ridiculous? He had been told he was handsome; just because Tony didn't like his personality or something didn't mean it was completely strange for him to take a fancy to someone.

"Have you looked at a mirror lately?" Tony rolled his eyes, lips twitching. "You'd make for a serious temptation to a lesbian nun with a vow of celibacy, never mind a dirty old occasional bisexual like myself."

"But you've been ignoring me." Steve sighed. "I know I probably should have been more direct right away, but I wasn't even sure you liked men. But then you didn't react to anything more subtle I did, so…"

"Is that why you've spent half your time shirtless lately? I thought that was some forties thing. Or possibly army thing, fuck if I know." Tony shook his head. "And all this time I've thought I was being so good not getting distracted or becoming a drooling idiot making pervy comments."

So apparently Pepper had been right after all. This was, as Steve would soon discover, a very common thing, especially in anything involving Tony. When in doubt, and when Tony wasn't being any help, turning to Pepper tended to work. It certainly worked here, as she made sure Tony didn't start backtracking as soon as Steve was released from the hospital and they actually got on an actual date. From there, it was slightly easier to maneuver to another date, and another, until even Tony admitted they were in something resembling a relationship. Pepper didn't even brag about it, not much at least.

When finally, several years down the road, Steve took out the ring (chosen with help from Pepper), got down on one knee in Tony's favorite restaurant (as confirmed by Pepper), and actually proposed (while Pepper and Natasha looked on from a few tables away), he was only a little afraid of getting thrown out of Tony's life in a moment of pure panic. Which didn't happen, in the end, as Pepper had promised him, though it still seemed to take Tony a moment to actually believe this was all happening.

Really, the only reason she didn't end up as his Best Woman was because Tony clearly wanted her in that position, and Steve was quite happy to let Tony have anything he wanted, as long as it wasn't too dangerous or ridiculously extravagant, anyway. He would always be happy to let Tony have everything.

And if they still sometimes bickered on the field, to the point that more than one recent addition to the team had thought they might soon come to blows, well, he figured it was only fair for them to provide Natasha and Pepper with some amusement after everything they owed the lovely ladies.


End file.
